Essential Informations for Pursuing Athletic College Scholarships

Venture onto a playground or into a gymnasium on a Saturday afternoon and it is likely that you will find several parents who are fostering dreams of their son or daughter parlaying their athletic abilities into a college scholarship. How realistic, however, is this dream? Not very, as it turns out--especially if you don't choose the right sport.


How Many Young Athletes Actually Receive Scholarships? 

The actual chance of any young athlete procuring an athletic scholarship is miniscule. According to statistics published by the NCAA, only 2% of high school seniors actually receive any form of athletic scholarship. Complicating this matter even further is the fact that very few of the scholarship recipients receive a full ride as part of any scholarship. The average yearly award for athletic scholarships, according to the NCAA, is less than $11,000 and only four sports, football, men's and women's basketball, and women's volleyball even offer full rides. Participants in all other sports are forced to accept partial awards. This is done by the institutions in order to maximize the number of athletes that can participate in their programs. By offering partial scholarships, athletic programs are able to attract far more athletes. 


What Sports Offer the Best Chances for a Scholarship? 

Despite the extensive odds against receiving a college athletic scholarship, parents and athletes throughout the country continue to pursue this elusive goal. With this in mind, parents might begin to ask themselves: “What sport affords my child the best chance at receiving an athletic scholarship”? The best chance for a college athletic scholarship is in major sports, such as football and basketball. These sports remain the most lucrative for the institutions and, therefore, institutions are able to fund far more of these scholarships. Football programs are able to award 85 scholarships and basketball is able to award 13; very few of these awards go unused. Meanwhile, in sports such as soccer or baseball, the number of available scholarships is far more limited. In

soccer, for instance, schools are only allowed to give 9.9 scholarships a year to field a team of about 28 athletes while baseball programs are allowed to distribute only 11.7 per year for a roster that nears 36 athletes. Clearly, the athletes that participate in the major sports are afforded a much greater opportunity to procure a scholarship than those participating in the minor sports. 

Pursuing an Athletic Scholarship: Stockvault

Participating in Minor Sports

Participants in the minor sports, which are really any sport other than football, men and women's basketball and men and women's soccer, are forced to either accept a small slice of the total cost of their college expenses or play for the mere joy of participation. Athletes in such sports face the reality that even with some financial assistance they still must shoulder a considerable portion of their educational expenses.

Those lucky 2% who are fortunate enough to procure an athletic scholarship obviously represent only a small portion of the number of athletes participating in athletics on the high school level. More than 600,000 girls participate in high school track and field, yet only a little over 4,500 of these athletes receive any form of scholarship assistance and, while over 330,000 young men play high school soccer only about 2,300 attended college on some form of athletic award. 

The bottom line is that those parents on the playground or gymnasium on Saturday hoping to finance their child's education with an athletic scholarship should also be keeping other options open. Despite the very slight--yet very real--possibility of a full-ride athletic scholarship, avoid relying solely on that option as a method to pay for college. All parents should encourage their students to keep up their studies and remain actively involved in school or volunteer work. It's also encouraged that parents spend time looking for scholarships with their children. Regardless of athletic ability, a student who actively participates in class and spends time looking for additional scholarships stands a much better chance of paying for (and succeeding in) college.

Byline: Herbert Caldwell is a freelance writer with a special interest in education, sports, scholarships and other kindred topics; serious athletes should consider viewing the marvelous resources at Lupo Sports.